Order of Souls
by nemoismyname
Summary: Xander Krane has been training his whole life, when he finally comes of age his parents are taken from him by a powerful enemy. Will he be able to save them? If he is too late will he be able to avenge them?
1. Chapter 1

**Training**

As the fist collided with his face Xander Krane wondered whether or not this was really all worth it. He had been training for most of his life with his older brother who was 8 years his senior in preparation for his induction into The Order of Souls. His brother, Tedge Krane, was one of the Knight-Admirals in The Order. Thus this was more or less a one sided battle, or it used to be until Xanders 19th birthday. Since that day his power has been growing by leaps and bounds. It was fitting seeing as his 20th was just a month away and that is when he would officially be inducted into The Order. He stood up and got in his favorite fighting stance. His brother regarded him for a second and then did the same.

They went at it for another 3 hours before the next blow was landed. This time Xander was able to get a piece of his brother something that was becoming more and more common as their training progressed.

"Thats enough" Tedge said with a look of amusement in his eyes " its time for swords"

"Seriously" replied Xander "you know I'm no match for you when it comes to sword play"

"And thats why we train" was Tedges cold reply.

Tedge tossed Xander a worn looking broad sword and then picked up one of the other practice swords.

"awwww why don't you use your sword big brother?" asked Xander

"you well know why I don't" replied Tedge

With that Xander charged, like in most things his brother grossly outclassed him when it came to sword play. Xander was getting better, but his sword skills weren't improving nearly as fast as his hand-to-hand skills. In fact he thought he might actually be better than Tedge, who was currently considered the best overall combatant in The Order, at hand-to-hand.

This session ran for a long time as they usually did. _He's getting better nearly exponentially_ Tedge thought to himself. _Father thinks he could actually be the next...no thats just to ridiculous of a thought. Though the time is right, its probably not Xander. _ By the time it was over Xander was covered nearly head to toe in minor cuts and slashes. Tedge had a few, nearly triple the amount Xander was able to inflict the day before. It was truly amazing just how fast his little brother was improving. Something happened then that no one had expected. Tedge felt a sudden spike in spiritual pressure and when he looked back at his brother he had manifested a sword.

"....you can manifest a sword? When did you manage that, by all rights you shouldn't be able to for at least another month." Tedge said with a look of shock

"I don't know how" began Xander "I just suddenly realized that I could, so I did"

At that point their father walked in, he looked between the two and smiled. He waved Tedge off and manifested his own blade. Xander held a look of shock, none of them, not Tedge nor Juba had ever been able to best their father in a sword fight. Their father who had been one of the most respected Knight-Captains ever. There were stories of Hollows actually fleeing from this man. Xander didn't know what to do.

"Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna show me what you are made of?" his father asked.

Xander suddenly had the strange urge to smile. He smiled the most vicious smile anyone had ever seen on another human being and charged his father. The fight was amazing it seemed to everyone watching, which included all the Knight-Admirals and Knight-Captains, that Xander might actually best his father. It took another two hours before they got their answer.

"It is amazing, son, how you are able to change and adapt to my every move. No matter what I throw at you, you find a way to adjust your own style and counter" stated Mr. Krane

With that he disarmed his son "but you still have a lot to learn." Again there was a massive spike in spiritual pressure and Xander was surrounded in a bright blue light. When the light faded he had his sword in hand again and his cloths had changed. He was now wearing a Dark blue Hawaiian print shirt, a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a pair of sandals. Everyone stared in shock, Tedge ran through the date in his head. His brother was still a month away from this.

Again Xander and his father fought, Xanders speed and strength had risen beyond what anyone had thought possible. It had gone from a venerable master training his student, to the student training the master. Xander jumped back looked at the crowd and smiled at his two brothers.

"Why don't you join us my brothers" Xander said with a sadistic smile.

So they did, both Juba and Tedge manifested their swords and entered the fray. To everyones surprise Xander was able to fight on equal ground with the three of them. For a time at least, eventually the skill and numbers caught up with Xander and they were able to disarm him again. Tedge and Juba regarded their brother with shocked expressions on their faces. Neither of them had been able to manifest their powers before they turned twenty. It was even more surprising that his cloths had changed, that meant he was officially a member of the order. His position and rank would be decided latter that day by the combined council of the Knight-Captains and Admirals.

Xander sat by his favorite tree thinking to himself, his meeting with the council was but minutes off. He had not manifested his armor while fighting but he knew if he did he may have been able to beat his father and brothers. He had not manifested his armor yet and decided to give it a shot before he went before the council. He directed his ever increasing spirit energy at his feet, his sandals started to glow and from his feet up a magnificent suit of plate mail started to form. When it had fully formed he looked at his hands and arms and with a expression of pure shock he just stood there and stared. _I can't believe this,_ he thought to himself, _this just isn't possible. How can I be...they will never believe it. _With that he heard his father calling for him, he unmanifested his armor and headed over to meet with his father.

"Are you ready?" asked his father

"As ready as I will ever be" he replied

They then headed to the council room, the captains and admirals sat at a center table and most of their knights and agents were in attendance. As well as some squires and operatives, Xander stood on the platform in front of the captains and admirals. The one to speak was the eldest current member of the Order, Winston.

"This emergency meeting has been called because it has been brought to our attention that the time for you to officially join the Order of Souls has come much earlier than expected. Are you prepared to show us your armor and rank?"

"Yes" was Xanders simple reply.

"Well ok then, get on with it" Winston responded

With that and a quick glance at Melissa, his friend since they were kids and captain of the Black squad Xander propelled himself into the history books. He again fed his spirit energy into his feet, and again the armor proceeded to manifest itself. When it was fully manifested there were many expressions of shock from those in attendance. His armor was black plate mail with gold trimming, his sword had also changed its handle was two dragons with their tails forming the handle and their heads and upper bodies the cross guard. The blade was made of what looked like onyx with rivulets of gold shooting through it.

Tedge and Juba stood up in shock.

"This can not be" shouted Tedge

"Use your eyes brother" said Juba "it is as true as we are gathered here today. Our brother is now the Grand Knight and our superior."

Xander couldn't believe it, his head started to spin, he was in charge of The Order. He would the next day be officially declared the Grand Knight and all decisions concerning The Order and their activities would now be his. He felt sick, and moments later passed out.

He slept for a long time, he didn't know how long exactly. He woke up to the sound of screaming coming from his parents living room. He sat up with a start and realized that he was in his bedroom. He rushed out to the living room to find a very strange, maddening, and terrifying sight. His parents were surrounded by three men in Japanese style clothing similar to what a samurai would wear when he wasn't in battle. One of them also had a white coat thing over the rest of his cloths, one of them wore a orange scarf and gray glasses, one of them had purple hair and what seemed to be a permanent evil smile, the other wore glasses and had relatively normal hair. He didn't have time to think so he just acted. He rushed the one with the scarf and landed a punch on the left side of his head sending him sprawling. Xander than squared off with the purple hair freak and aimed a kick for the guys legs. This connected and knocked the guy off balance, he then landed a punch square in the guys chest sending him through the living room window.

Just as he turned to face the third one he felt a sword slip between his rips and a explosion of pain erupt from the area. Xander began to cough up blood and fell to the floor.

"Why?" was all Xander could manage.

"Why?" the man in glasses started "mostly because your parents spirit energy is around the level I need to complete my experiments. I don't see how it matters to you seeing as you are going to be dead soon I had wished to complete this without killing any of their children."

"Who are you?" Xander barely whispered the question.

"Feel honored to have been slain by the blade of Captain Aizen of the thirteen court guard squads"

With that Xander passed into unconsciousness. While he was out his mind wandered, most of it assumed he would die. There was a part, however, that burned with the need for vengeance and it was that part that was actively thinking. _Who the hell is this Aizen, he said he was a captain and I know all of our captains so does that mean there is another organization outside of The Order that had spirit energy abilities? What are the thirteen court guard squads, we only have four squads so that almost definitely means that he is part of another organization. How am I ever going to find the man that took away my parents and what about his followers. I was able to easily deal with them but I also had the element of surprise I'd wager they weren't slouches when it came to fighting. It seemed that he knew I had siblings, does that mean that he knows about The Order?_ After that his brain completely shut down. He awoke some days later in The Orders hospital his brothers were there as well as Melissa, the other captains and admirals were there as well.

"what happened" Tedge asked him

"I don't really know aside from the fact that I was stabbed and mother and father were kidnapped by some Japanese looking people, at least their cloths were Japanese anyways."

"Can you tell us anything else" Juba asked

"Only that I'm going to hunt down the ones responsible and kill them. Only I'm not going to start right away, I'm going to let them think they left no survivors on the scene. They are going to think they got away with it, and while they are sitting pretty and congratulating themselves we are going to find out as much as we can about this Aizen and what organization he works for. Of course it is entirely possible that whatever organization it may be has no idea what he is doing. In which case we may have an ally that may be able to give us much useful information in dealing with him."

They just stared at him, no doubt they didn't understand why he was willing to sit back and let the kidnappers get away, but he was the Grand Knight now so his word was law. They had to listen to him and he would do his best to be fair to his own. Aizen would pay, of that one thing he was sure, Aizen would feel the wrath of his blade and wish he had never crossed Alexander Krane.


	2. Chapter 2

**Grief**

~One Week Later~

Xander's wound kept him busy recovering for the better part of a week, by the time he was able to get up and walk again he figured that whatever Aizen had planned to do with his parents had already been done. This caused Xander untold grief, all he could do while his parents were being tortured, experimented on, and probably killed was sleep. The council agreed to give him a one months grieving period before they would officially induct him into The Order as the next Grand Knight. He planned to use this time to take a vacation and clear his head. His parents had always told him how beautiful Japan was so he decided to head there. He had told his brothers and offered them the chance to come with but they had their own way of dealing with loss. While he was packing they both joined him in what was now their house in northern Wisconsin.

"Are you sure you are going to be fine on your own?" Tedge asked

"Oh come on, he is our brother after all, if he can't take care of himself then who can?" Juba said with smile playing around the edges of his mouth.

"I'll be fine" started Xander "besides you two need to keep The Order in...well order"

They all laughed at the sound of that and then, as per usual when one of them was leaving, they made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. They enjoyed the simple meal together in what would be the last time they saw Xander for the better part of a month. The next morning Xander woke up, got in his car, and drove to Chicago. He left his car in the extended parking section at the air port and went to his terminal. On the way he was reminded of why he hated air port security. He sighed as he was one of the people they "randomly" pulled aside to search. When the guy with the wand looking thingy was sure that he was clean he let him by.

As he was walking by a few of the stores in the air port something caught his eye. It was an outfit at one of the clothing stores that bore a striking resemblance to what the men that had kidnapped his parents were wearing. He looked at the label on the stand, it was called a shi-something or another he didn't really care too much what it was called. He didn't need this right now, he was supposed to be clearing his head. He was supposed to be readying himself for his duties as Grand Knight. After all there were many evil souls walking around getting their second chance to exploit the innocent. He moved on to the food court and had some Chinese, or as close as Americans can come to Chinese food.

The rest of his time in the air port went by without much happening. He saw a few women he found attractive this of course drove his thoughts back to Melissa. He had yet to tell her how he felt about her, he was almost positive that they were meant to be together but even with that he somehow couldn't bring himself to tell her. _I may or may not be indecisive_ he thought to himself with a smile as he boarded the flight to LA.

Once in the LA airport he had to make a mad dash for his next flight seeing as it was leaving about 5 minutes after he landed because of a few delays in landing. He made it to his next plane in time bumping more than a few fellow travelers in the process. When he was finally in his seat and the plane was taking off did he allow himself to relax for the first time that day. He slept for most of the flight to Tokyo and as per usual while he slept he dreamed. He dreamed of his parents, his brothers, of the men in black samurai-ish clothing, but mostly he just dreamed of Melissa.

He woke up about an hour before the plane landed. Everything was going smooth-ish on his little retreat from reality until he stepped out of the airport. Suddenly he heard a Hollow roar and the reason his brothers asked him to consider doing his little retreat somewhere else suddenly came back to him. _The Order Doesn't operate in Japan or any other Asian countries. We don't actually know why we just know that we don't so please be careful._ Juba's warning had come full circle. If he decided to take on this Hollow who, in hindsight was probably after him for a mid-afternoon snack, he would be doing it alone. Xander shrugged, manifested his Hawaiian shirt form, was very thankful normal humans couldn't see him in this form or with his armor on, and took off in the direction of the screams. When he got to the scene he immediately recognized the Hollow he had read about him in The Orders archives. His name was The Grand Fisher and it had appeared that Xander was wrong, Mr. Fisher wasn't after him but some poor helpless random soul. Fishface wasn't on The Orders official kill list but it had caused so much havoc that it was decided long ago that if any of them ever came across him then they would put an end to him. Xander did the only thing that made sense to him at the time, manifested his sword and charged into the fray.

"Who the hell are you?" Fishface asked as he stumbled back from Xanders initial attack.

"Me?" Xander started, "I'm Xander Krane, I'm from the good ole' US of A, and I'm the one who is going to kick your ass"

"Is that so" replied Fishface, "well then before I kill you would you tell me what the hell are you. I've never felt spirit energy like yours before."

"You mean you don't know?" asked Xander, "I'm a Knight of The Order, well THE Knight actually, the Grand Knight. Enough questions Fishface now you die.

They fought for what seemed like hours, Xander was pretty sure that he could end the fight by manifesting his more powerful armor form but he really was enjoying this challenge. After what seemed like an eternity he was able to land a pretty serious blow on Fishface's left shoulder area.

"You are powerful!" Fishface screamed, "the next time we meet don't expect me to go easy on you"

Xander laughed heartily, "I think you have your facts mixed Fishface, it was me who was going easy on you"

With a snarl and what passed for a scowl, on a Hollows face anyway The Grand Fisher, or as Xander like to call him...Fishface...retreated. Xander then retrieved his bag from where he dropped it and found a quiet ally to return to his much more visible "street cloths" form and went to find accommodations for the month. Too bad for Xander if he would have stayed on the scene a little longer he would have seen men and women appear who were wearing similar cloths to the kidnappers carrying swords of similar design to Aizens. Too bad for the soul reapers, if they would have arrived earlier they would be the first of their kind to lay eyes on a Knight of The Order in about two-hundred years.

Xander managed to find a relatively cheap hotel that was also none to shabby. He payed for the whole month in advance and then settled in. The first couple of days he just stayed in keeping in shape doing aerobics and various exercises in the hotels meager "fitness" room. For the rest of the time he went sight seeing (with the occasional Hollow slayage). When it came time to go home he was happy and sad to leave such a beautiful country. But he truly felt ready to assume the duties of the Grand Knight. However, the thought of one day catching Aizen loomed in the back of his mind waiting for the chance to re-surface.

A couple of years passed, during which time a young man by the name of Ichigo Kurosaki grew older and became a substitute soul reaper. It was exactly 5 years after his trip to Japan that those thoughts of revenge had a prime chance to re-surface and nearly consume Xanders soul.

Xander sat alone in what passed for his "throne" room. He was going over the mornings reports of Hollow activity in the USA and Europe. Everything seemed normal this morning, well as normal as a being a glorified ghost buster can be anyways. There was one report, however, that caught his eye this morning. Members of the black squad, while trailing a Hollow into China, a place they usually don't go had reported seeing a person wielding a katana style sword in what they referred to as "very similar to what the samurai's wear in the movies" type clothing. This person had slain the Hollow they were trailing and they reported that the underworld then took it. He laughed to himself as he read the report. His manner of talking had spread throughout The Order in the last five years. Even some of his Knight-Captains now used the Xanderism "slayage" when they talked about the Hollows they had slain. His eyes were drawn back to the word samurai and how it was used to describe the cloths this person wore. It was then that all that he had thought he had put behind him rose to the surface. The men that had taken his parents, who were since confirmed to have passed on, wore clothing that he would describe as what samurai's wore. Could there be a connection? Should he have the black squad follow up on this?

He decided to send Melissa, the Knight-Captain of the Black squad to look into the matter. He had his attendant, a squire who's name he couldn't remember for the life of him, send for her. She arrived mere moments later, seeing as she had eyes and ears everywhere this was of no surprise to him.

"Yes, Xander, what is it that you would ask of me?" Melissa stated with a half smile. She was the only one that he let get away with not calling him "sir"

"Melissa, I would like you to further investigate the person mentioned as wearing samurai style clothing in this report. It seems he killed one of our targets. I assume he has no idea we even exist, but the fact that we didn't know that he and probably they exist is a matter I would like to look into."

"When would you like me to leave?" she asked with a slight frown on her face. He understood, it was their 1st wedding anniversary in three days.

"As soon as you are ready, I am sorry but this is a matter that is urgent, I mean to rectify this gap in our archives as soon as possible."

"I understand, and I will go with haste, but only because I know that this also has to do with your parents."

"What makes you say that?" asked Xander

"Because I know how to read your face" she replied with a smile.

"I love you, Mel"

"And I you, Xander"

With that she turned and left the room. Xander sighed he didn't deserve such a good wife and he was very thankful he had one. Could this be the back of his mind had been searching for? The last five years had gone by without incident could his patience finally pay off? He was sure he was going to find out. Melissa was the best at what she did and with some of the advances his cousin had made as Knight-Captain of the R&D squad she would be safe, he was sure of it. Xander wasn't the type to send his wife into danger without both good reason and a near guarantee that she would be safe. One thing still poked at the back of his brain though. How powerful was this Aizen? Would he be able to see through the spirit energy cloak she would be employing? He hoped not, for all their sakes, he prayed not.

He saw her off that evening and the headed over to train some with his brothers. They ate their traditional meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup in her honor and then trained. They would train almost every night until her return.

Tedge and Juba were both very fond of their brothers wife, she made him happy and that was something that they liked to see. After Xander had retired for the evening Juba had a talk with Tedge.

"Do you think this mission he sent her on has anything to do with our parents" Juba asked Tedge.

"I know it does" Tedge replied, "would he have sent her if it was anything else. He needs the best for this and she is the best."  
"I just hope he realizes the danger he is putting her in." said Juba

"He does" started Tedge, "Why else do you think he gave her his spirit energy cloak, something that only the Grand Knight is supposed to use."

"I suppose you are right" sighed Juba, "though if something does happen to her, he may snap"

"No" replied Tedge, "he will snap, cause if something does happen to her, It's going to be because of this Aizen fellow. And if that ends up being the case, I may just pray for his soul, because the wrath of Alexander Krane is something I would wish on no one, friend or enemy."

Xander slept deep that night. He dreamed of Melissa and of her safe return, he dreamed of this and he slept peacefully. Unaware that what Melissa would find would change The Order forever.

Meanwhile in the Soul Society Aizen was completely unaware that his actions five years ago were going to come back on him ten fold...very soon.


End file.
